Friday, May 16, 2008

Closing in on a New Begining

Well we have finished all of our teaching, all of our outdoor trips, all our local and mini outreaches. We have gone to Tibet and some to Greenland, we have meet hundreds of people, learned new things everyday, found how to live closer with God and how to live close with those who love God as well. I have become a friends and family with a whole lot of strangers, I have found myself as a stranger as well. I am a different person now and through many teachings and times of self searching I am now begining to find out who I am.

We are wraping up now, we have one week of debriefing left, a time where we can reflect with others on all of the things in which we have soaked up this year...all the things that we have learned and had chances to put into practice. It is amazing to me how this nine months has gone by so incredibly quickly. Looking forward nine months seemed like such a long time to be away from home, family and friends but now looking back it just seems like yesterday when I arrived and took the 4 hour car ride here to Engavågen, it seems like yesterday when we took our first outdoor trip, had our first week of teaching, went on our first local outreach to Sørarnøy, a small island with many AMAZING people...seems like just yesterday traveling around for Christmas, going to China/Tibet, celebrating easter with good friends, it all seems so close yet in another way it seems like I have know all these people for so long. We all know how to cope with one another, we all know when someone needs space or someone need a hug or someone need to talk...returning home to what used to be familiar will be so strange. All those people I know back home have changed, have moved on in life...I have changed.

I could keep rambling on and on but let me see if I can finish telling about the final part of my time here. Last week we had our last outdoor trip. We drove (partialy drove and took 3 fairy's) down south to a small town where we went to a small camping place with a cabin, no doors or heating but a roof over our heads. We spent the evening at the local indoor pool practicing rescueing fliped kayak's, we practiced getting out of flipped boats and so on. The next day we took another fairy to an island surrounded by 1000's of other islands. We put on our wet suits and paddled for a couple hours to where we set up camp on a very small island. There was one house on the island, a small family who spend most of there time collecting a special type of bird down and they make blankets and sell for 40,000kr each (7961,92 US). The next day we paddled back to the cars and took once again another fairy to a beautiful island called Lovund. We had a super nice spot, a big field that was soft and flat, beach on one side and boulders all over on the other side. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! The only downside of this trip was that we had to wake up at 430am so that we could catch the fairy to go home...with the sun now not going down, having light 24/7 it messes with your mind, but it is incredible...

Finally I just want to inform everybody that I have been talking a little bit with my contact in Tibet and the plan is to work for the summer, get a visa and return to Tibet in September. Pray that God will open the doors wide so that I wont have trouble getting a visa and pray also that the school in Tibet will become registered this year so that I can go back....

Well I look forward to talking and shareing my stories and adventures with everyone when I return home...untill then